


Les Yeux Ouverts

by Methoxyethane



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Riku’s POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methoxyethane/pseuds/Methoxyethane
Summary: Riku hits Sora with his car, breaks the guy’s arm, and somehow, gains a boyfriend out of it. His friends could not stop laughing if their lives depended on it.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 125





	Les Yeux Ouverts

Riku was running late.

He’d picked up a spare shift from a coworker, but Hayner had called so late that Riku had forgotten to set an alarm for it and ended up sleeping in nearly an hour later than he’d wanted to get up. Which meant he didn’t have time for a shower so he felt gross and greasy, and now he had to hurry through traffic to get to work on time.

He shouldn’t have picked up Hayner’s shift at all, being as he’d already worked the night before on an overnight and barely gotten any sleep at all as a result. Not to mention he had classes again as soon as tomorrow, which meant he’d blown another entire weekend on work again and missed any chances he might have to actually relax and sleep in a little were officially shot.

He felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks, he knew he hadn’t gotten a chance to hang out with his friends for even longer. But school took up so much of his time and energy, and it was so hard to make room for anything else…

Riku was, needless to say, a little preoccupied on the drive to work. Distracted enough not to hit the breaks quite in time when something jumped off the sidewalk in front of his car.

There was a screech of brakes and a soft thud, followed by the sharp howl of someone crying out in pain. The first thought Riku had was, pathetically, that at least that scream meant whoever he’d hit wasn’t dead. Yet.

He slammed the car into park and barreled out of the door, stumbling over his own feet in his haste to reach whoever he’d hit. What he found was a short brunette cradling his arm and hissing in pain, swearing out a surprisingly tame, “Sweet Jiminy Cricket crackerjack crap!”

“Are you okay?” Riku was asking as he knelt down, trying to inspect the boy - or maybe man? His age was hard to judge - for any injuries other than the left arm he was currently cradling to his chest.

“My arm - shoot, the dog, is the dog okay?” The young man asked, looking up at Riku with wide blue eyes. 

“Dog?” Riku asked. “I didn’t see any…” He looked around at the street, then across from it. He saw the tail end of a dog’s tail as it darted between two buildings into an alleyway, so he turned back to the guy he’d hit with the apology, “Well he’s not hit, but I think it just ran away.”

“Craaaaaap, that’s Ms. Maleficent’s dog, she’s gonna get so mad when she finds out I lost Pete!”

Riku’s face was twisted into concern. “I’m not sure she’s a problem right now. Do you - should I call an ambulance? Your arm doesn’t look... right.”’

The brunette’s head shot up to look at Riku with panic. “I can’t afford an ambulance! I’ll be fine, I just need to -” He tried to stand up, but as soon as he moved his arm even a fraction of an inch he was visibly wincing in pain, letting out a sharp hiss. “Crap. It hurts so bad, I think I might have broken it.” 

“I really think you need to go to a hospital…” Riku said carefully. “Are you sure you don’t need me to call 911?”

The boy fervently shook his head. “I work right next to here, if I go back inside I can get one of my coworkers to drive me.”

Riku took in a sharp breath, slowly letting it out in a sigh. “Get in the car. I’ll drive you myself, it’s the least I can do after hitting you.”

The guy took a second, but he nodded, and Riku helped him back to his feet and into the passenger’s seat.

“What’s your name?” Riku finally asked as he pulled the car out of park and set them on their way, mentally calculating the fastest way to Sacred Heart. 

“Sora,” the guy said, almost cheerfully considering his current situation. “Thanks so much for taking me, I’m not sure how much my insurance will cover and ambulances are…”

Riku just nodded, eyes on the road. “Something that shouldn’t cost that much money, I know.”

Sora gave a sort of half-laugh, but didn’t say much else in favor of concentrating on his broken arm. He kept swearing, sort of, those same hissed out curses of “Cheese and crackers, friggin’ crap, crap, crap…” Every time there was a bump in the road to jostle him.

Riku glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “You… might feel better if you actually swore, I think. I heard it has something to do with like. Science?”

“Nnnnng,” Sora moaned, clutching at his arm. “Science, huh?” He took a deep breath, and then belted out a rather impressive, “ _ FUCK _ ! Fucking SHIT fucking HELL, my goddamned bitch-ass ARM!”

Riku blinked in surprise. Sora, next to him in the car, grinned almost sunnily at him. “You’re right, that DOES feel a little better.”

“Glad to help,” was all Riku could say, before setting his concentration back on driving.

They got to the hospital with no problem, and Riku escorted him inside. Not wanting to leave Sora alone in the waiting room, Riku went in with him, determined that this was more important than whatever his shift at Target may have had waiting for him. 

He and Sora had to wait nearly an hour in the ER for anyone to have time to see them, which left Riku plenty of time to call in for work with the not-actually-a-lie excuse he’d gotten into a car accident. 

By the time they called Sora’s name Riku was sighing in relief. It only took another hour or so after that, of which Riku had no idea what went on because he’d never broken a bone before, but when Sora came out he seemed much more chipper and in significantly less pain than before they’d set the bone and put him in a bright red cast.

“You’re still here!” Sora said when he met Riku in the waiting room. “You didn’t need to stay, I’d have been fine from here.”

The thought that he might leave literally hadn’t occurred to Riku for a second. He swallowed that truth, and gave Sora the excuse of, “Well, you’d need a ride home too, right?”

Sora smiled brightly at him. “You’re a real nice guy, you know that?”

Awkwardly, Riku scratched at the back of his head. “Not really… I did hit you with my car, after all.”

Sora hummed thoughtfully, eyeing Riku up and down. “You did do that, didn’t you? I’d say for the broken arm, you really owe me one, huh?”

“I don’t have any money,” Riku said automatically.

Sora just laughed, eyes sparkling. “Don’t worry, I’ve got an even BETTER plan. You,” he said decisively, a borderline manic grin spread across his face, “Are going to give me your phone number. I haven’t been in town long, and I haven’t managed to find anyone to be friends with yet. You seem like just the kind of nice guy I want to get to know more of.”

Riku’s eyebrow rose to his hairline. “You’re blackmailing me… into friendship?”

Sora nodded brightly. “Sure am!”

Riku couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing. “You are, without a doubt, the weirdest person I’ve ever met in my life.”

“I’ll take that as the compliment it's so obviously meant to be,” Sora said smoothly. He grabbed a marker off the nurse’s station and handed it to Riku, holding out his cast and saying, “Come on then, you owe me that number!”

Riku took the pen, but argued, “I’m not writing my number on your cast where anyone could read it and call me. Just give me your cell phone like a normal person? Please?”

Sora rolled his eyes, but dug into his back pocket to pull out a dated-looked smartphone and unlocked it. He handed it to Riku, who dutifully typed in his name and number before handing the phone back to Sora. 

And, with the pen, carefully pulled Sora’s newly cast arm to him to sign a repentant, “ _ Sorry about breaking your arm. -Riku. _ ”

Sora grinned like he’d given him the sun itself.

—

Riku had expected Sora to text him, but he hadn’t expected it as soon as the next morning. Riku was in class at the time, but it was a lecture he’d already done some studying on himself, so he let himself discreetly answer Sora’s inquiries of “ _ What’s up _ ” and “ _ Is that any fun? _ ” As they came.

They texted a few times sporadically throughout the day, but it wasn’t until the evening time when after Riku was out of class and studying at home that he got an actual phone call.

He put down the free weight he’d been casually lifting with one arm as he read his textbook, answering Sora’s call with a casual “Hey.”

“So the thing is,” Sora started out, which Riku thought to be an odd way to start a conversation with someone you met a day earlier. “I’m alright at cooking, but I just started living alone recently. So I haven’t quite managed to figure out portion control.”

“Oh yeah?” Riku said, feeling a smile crawl its way across his lips. “You make too much food, or too little?”

“Waaaay too much,” Sora confirmed. “I have pasta for DAYS. But the thing is, Riku? I don’t wanna eat pasta for days. I kind of only wanted some tonight.”

Riku laughed. “So what are you gonna do about that? Feed the homeless?”

“Depends,” Sora said. “On your living situation. Since I’m inviting you over to eat the rest with me.”

Riku considered this. Sora was definitely weird, but there didn’t seem to be any chance he was a serial killer. And even if he was, did Riku really care if he died tonight? The answer was no. No he did not care. “What the hell, I haven’t eaten yet. Text me your address and I’ll be right over.”

Riku could almost swear he heard Sora’s smile even through the phone.

A half hour later he was showing up at Sora’s apartment, noting immediately that it somehow managed to be even smaller than Riku’s. An impressive feat by any means.

Still, it was a comfortable space, filled to the brim with all kinds of personal possessions and nick-knacks to make the space feel homey and lived-in, which contrasted with Riku’s more bare-boned living situation. 

Sora greeted him with enthusiasm, and the smell of something delicious hit Riku as he stepped properly inside. “What did you make? It already smells amazing.”

“Just an easy carbonara recipe.” Sora answered, leading him to the only table in the apartment which sat between the couch and TV. “One of the places back in Destiny Islands where I used to work was an upscale restaurant, and I learned a lot about cooking from the head chef.”

Riku sat down on the couch as Sora wandered into the kitchen-area to dish out their dinners onto plates. “Did you have a lot of jobs back home?”

Sora nodded. “A few, yeah. Normal things like dog walking and house sitting; I used to babysit a lot. And then there was the job helping out at the local animal shelter, that’s how I got into animals and got the job I have now.”

He placed one plate in front of Riku and set the other one up for himself right next to it, sitting down on the couch next to Riku. “Sorry for the lack of… Dining room. This place is kind of small so there’s nowhere else to eat besides standing up in the kitchen.”

Riku just nodded in understanding. “It’s fine, I’m in a pretty similar situation. Anyway, what job do you have now? I thought you were a dog walker but the way you mentioned it so passively kind of crosses that off the list.”

Sora snickered, picking up his fork and digging into his pasta. “I’m a vet tech at the local veterinary clinic. I went to school for it back home, but there were no available jobs for it in town, so Kairi’s family hooked me up with this job here in Twilight Town.”

“That’s awesome,” Riku said seriously, legitimately impressed. “You finished school and found your career already; most people don’t even know what they wanna do in life until they’ve been in school for a few years and tried things out. And you’re happy?”

Sora nodded around a mouthful of pasta. “So far so good! Dr. Donald is a great boss, even if he does have a bit of a temper. I’m really lucky.”

Riku finally took a bite of his own dinner, and found it to be almost indescribably good. Like, no one with a face that cute should have any right to be as talented in the kitchen as this kid was. “How long were you in school for, anyway? I don’t know anything about your field.”

“It’s just a two year degree. I’m only twenty, but it feels good to be living out on my own and doing what I love so fast.”

“No kidding,” Riku said, stuffing another bite of carbonara into his mouth. “I’m twenty-one myself, which means I’ll still be in school for another… Oh, seven years?”

Sora’s eyes widened. “Seven YEARS? What are you, a doctor or something?”

Riku nodded. “I’m on the cardiology track, yeah.”

Sora looked stunned with how impressed he was, whistling lowly. “No wonder you’ve got that look on your face like you haven’t slept in three weeks. You probably HAVEN’T.”

“Not especially,” Riku grinned back. “Like Dad used to say, I can sleep when I’m dead.”

“That can’t be healthy. Shouldn’t you know better than that, as a future doctor?”

“SHOULD, yeah. But I’ve got bills to pay and books to study, so until then…”

An expression of vast pitiness crossed Sora’s face. “I’m starting to think maybe you hitting me with your car was fate. CLEARLY you needed to meet me, so I can teach you how to chill the heck out.”

Riku took another bite of pasta. “Good luck with that one. My friends have been trying to tell me to do that for years now, and how I repaid them was by not seeing them for weeks on end.”

“Good thing I’m not gonna let you get away with ignoring me then,” Sora said with a sly smile. “After all, if you try to ditch me, I can always go back and sue you for hitting me with your car.”

“You’re either the  _ most _ , or the LEAST evil person I’ve ever met. I’m having a hard time deciding which one.”

Sora’s smile was covered in red sauce from his dinner. “Well, look at the bright side. You’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.”

The conversation left off at that, in favor of finishing Sora’s truly spectacular cooking before it got cold. 

Afterwards, instead of going home to finish studying, Sora convinced Riku he should stay and watch a movie with him. Against his better judgement he agreed, and ending up spending way more time at Sora’s than he had originally intended.

“I’ve gotta get back home,” Riku said once the movie Sora had picked ran its course. It was a weird night, and Sora was a weird person, but… He’d had legitimate fun. If it was like this, maybe he wouldn’t mind being Sora’s Blackmail Friend. “I’ve still got a lot of studying to do, and I really can’t blow it off all night.”

Sora nodded, standing up to escort him to the door, even though it was only about six feet away from the couch. “Thanks for coming over tonight, Riku. And, uh…” He suddenly looked shy for the first time since they’d met, glancing up at Riku through long eyelashes. “If you wanted to come over again, I usually make pasta on thursdays. Or I could make, you know, whatever.”

Riku gave him a small smile. “Yeah… I’d like that.”

—

Riku did in fact go back to Sora’s the next thursday night for dinner, but either he forgot about the pasta or he was lying in the first place, because this time he made some kind of thick minestrone stew for them to share instead of the noodles Riku had been promised. He also made Riku play card games while they watched Sora’s netflix queue of old sitcom reruns, proving Riku’s suspicion that Sora was not a person who was good at holding still for very long. Instead of annoying, it was kind of endearing.

But spending two nights with Sora reminded Riku that he hadn’t seen his real friends in… like a month now, and that was... That was bad. Bad for friendships. He really ought to do something about that.

So instead of picking up Olette’s shift at work that weekend he called Aqua and set up plans to meet her and Terra and Ven.

They tried to go out and do things together as a group when they could, but since Riku and Aqua were both in medical programs for school - that being how they met in the first place - neither of them had much time to do a lot other than studying. That was one of the reasons they didn’t meet often, and also the reason that when they did meet, it was usually for a study date.

That was what they agreed on tonight, too. Terra had a test coming up for his engineering course, and Ventus had homework he needed to complete for his animation and illustration classes, anyway. So all three of them crammed into Riku’s tiny apartment that Saturday night, all complete with bags full of textbooks and already-tired expressions on their faces.

“Riku!” No amount of tiredness could prevent Aqua from being Aqua though, and she threw her arms around Riku’s neck in a hug as soon as he opened the door. “I haven’t seen you in ages, where have you  _ been _ ?”

“The dark side of the moon as always,” He answered with a smile, patting Aqua’s back as she released her loose grip and stepped away. “Sorry I haven’t called, between work and school, you know how it goes.”

She nodded, and behind her, Ventus elbowed her way past to give Riku a greeting fistbump and a grin. “I know you’re too busy for us mere mortals, anyway. Otherwise you’d have made time to at least call us, considering we’re your only friends.”

Riku couldn't help but laugh. It was just so nice seeing his friends again, he didn’t even mind being ripped on like he so rightly deserved. “Did Terra come with you?”

Aqua shook her head. “He’s running a little late. He’ll be here soon, and he said pizza’s on him tonight.”

“Awesome,” Riku and Ven both chorused. “As long as he doesn’t try to choke us on another meat supreme.”

“He can’t,” Aqua smiled. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m going vegetarian. One of those pizzas will just be cheese and red peppers, so I can actually have some.”

Ventus made a face. “So my choices are pure meat or no meat at all? What a waste of a pizza night. Next time I’m buying so we can just have a normal pepperoni for once.”

“You have the taste of a little kid, Ven,” Riku teased as they all settled in to find a place to spread out their study materials. 

Ventus stuck his tongue out childishly. “Better than having no taste at all.”

“He’s got you there, Riku.” Aqua said. “You’re the only one here who’s sadistic enough to bring a pineapple pizza and expect us all to eat it.”

“Not my fault you guys are weak.”

Everyone got a decent snicker out of that, waiting for Terra to arrive with food before they got too into their homework and had to break their concentration.

It didn’t take too much longer, less than half a rerun of Bones playing on the TV before Terra was knocking at the door with a backpack full of books and an armful of more food than anyone had expected.

“Jesus Terra, are you trying to feed an army?” Riku asked as he helped Terra inside, taking the pizza boxes from him to set on the table.

“I had a coupon,” Terra explained cheerfully, letting himself inside and closing the door behind him. “So I got breadsticks and a side of pasta to go with it.”

Ven cheered up at the mention of breadsticks, and soon everyone was serving themselves dinner and settling in to eat.

The meat lovers pizza was… Okay. The cheese and pepper pizza was slightly more palatable, and Riku ended up eating more of that than Terra’s ham-and-bacon abomination, before dishing himself out the last of the pasta order that Ventus hadn’t already claimed for himself.

And the pasta was good, it really was, but… Riku found himself, without thinking, letting slip loose the complaint, “Sora’s cooking really was better than this.”

Everyone looked up at him at the same time. 

“Sora?” Terra was the one to voice first, while Aqua and Ven exchanged glances. “I’ve never heard  _ that _ name before.”

“Oh my god,” Aqua gasped, a smile drawing across her lips. “Oh my god, Riku, did you get a girlfriend?”

“What? No!” Riku backpedalled, shaking his head quickly. “I just -”

“Met someone we don’t know about and have already eaten their home cooking?” Ven asked with a leering smirk. 

“It’s not like that!” Riku denied. “It’s a guy for one thing, and definitely not someone I’m dating, okay?”

The others all looked at each other. “So what, you wouldn’t date a guy all of the sudden?”

“What? I never said - Are you guys just being dicks on purpose?”

An exchange of snickers, before Aqua settled everyone down. “Okay, so if he’s not your boyfriend, who IS Sora?”

Riku hadn’t really wanted to tell anyone about this, half because of the possibility of future litigation and half because it was just. So embarrassing. “I… Sora is a new friend I made.”’ He swallowed thickly, bracing himself for the impending wave of laughter. “When I hit him with my car.”

As expected, after a moment of blank silence, all three of them burst out laughing. “ _ What _ ? With your CAR? What is your LIFE, Riku?” Ventus howled, tears in the corners of his eye from laughing too hard.

“Weird, is my life.” Riku agreed. “I took him to the hospital after the accident, and after he got the cast put on his arm he said since he just moved here and hadn’t met anyone yet, I had to be his friend. You know. So he wouldn't need to press charges.”

Another round of laughter from his friends, and Riku took a bite of noodles waiting for them to stop.

“No no no, let me get this straight,” Ven said through his laughter. “You broke his arm, and in return, he made you a homemade dinner?”

“Uh. Yes.”

“I’m sorry Riku, but I think you have to marry this guy.” Ven finished through his laughter.

“Stop making fun of me! He’s a nice… Weird, but a nice guy, and I’m lucky I’m not getting sued for this.”

“Kind of sad, isn’t it? Being lonely and stupid enough to befriend the first idiot who injured him?”

“Or maybe,” Aqua broke in, “He took one look at Riku and knew he had to have some of that. In my book that makes him anything but stupid.”

Ven rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to drag Riku here, don’t ruin it by complimenting him!”

And everyone but Riku descended into laughter once again. 

Great. Some friends HE had, didn’t he?

“So,” Terra said between a mouthful of pizza. “When do we get to meet him?”

Riku reeled. “What? No! No one is meeting him, you guys would just bombard him with questions and humiliate me!”

“So he’s someone you don’t wanna be embarrassed in front of? Even though you already did by hitting him with your car?” 

“He’s someone who doesn’t deserve to be subjected to the lot of YOU, that’s all!”

“I dunno, Riku,” Ven said pessimistically. “Is this guy even real? I can’t think of a single person who’d react to getting hit by a car like THAT.”

“Yeah, Riku,” Aqua agreed. “The only way we could believe a story this weird is to actually meet the guy.”

“What, you think I’d make a story that makes me look so bad  _ up _ ?”

Ventus shrugged. “Sure, if the lack of sleep and majorly overworking yourself made you hallucinate the whole thing. Let us meet him, and you can prove you’re still sane.”

“Fuck you guys!” Riku spat back. “If I’m crazy, what does that make YOU three?”

“Extremely worried,” Aqua said sagely. 

It took all of the willpower in Riku’s body not to flip over his plate and spill food all over their laps.

—

So since he never had classes or regularly scheduled work on Thursdays, that's what day he started meeting up with Sora. They didn’t always have dinner; sometimes Riku could only come over late enough that both of them had already eaten, but Sora lived close enough to Riku’s apartment that there wasn’t a really good reason not to stop by for at least an hour or two just to catch up.

Tonight wasn’t a Thursday, so he wasn’t really expecting a phone call from Sora. Texting wasn’t unusual, but an actual call was a little unprecedented.

“Hey, Riku?” Sora asked as soon as Riku answered the phone.

“Hey, Sora, what’s up?” Riku asked, glad to have an excuse to put away his homework for a few minutes.

“I’m feeling kind of… off. Could you maybe meet me somewhere? I wanna go for a walk.”

That was a new thing for Sora to request, and Riku didn’t think he’d ever heard of Sora being anything other than totally cheerful. He was curious, and wanted to help Sora get out of whatever funk he may have landed in, so it didn’t take much thought for Riku to agree.

Besides. His brain needed a break after all this studying, and Sora was always good for a distraction.

They met at a spot a few blocks away, roughly between their two apartments. Sora greeted him with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, but somehow seemed genuine nonetheless. 

“Hey, Riku. I’m glad you showed up.”

Riku nodded. “I was about to say ‘any time,’ but you’re honestly lucky you didn’t catch me at work tonight.”

Sora gave him another little smile. “Well then I guess we’ll have to make the most of what we’ve got, huh?”

Riku nodded, and they started off walking together. Riku knew this area fairly well by now, but let Sora lead the way since the goal probably wasn’t a real destination as much as the journey there.

“So,” Riku said after a while, interrupting the beat of their footsteps on the pavement. “What’s up with you?”

Sora shrugged, not quite glancing at Riku. “I don’t know. Nothing’s wrong, I just feel… weird.”

“Hm,” Riku hummed in acknowledgment. “Did anything happen?”

Sora shook his head. “Nothing unusual. Kairi called, and I talked to her for a while. A long while, really. I think we probably talked for like two hours, it was… It was really nice.”

“You miss her?” 

Sora nodded. “Of course I do, she’s my best friend in the world. I had a great time talking with her, so I don’t know why when I hung up afterwards I just felt… Empty inside.”

Riku smiled, figuring for once he actually knew the problem. “Sounds like you’re lonely to me, dude. I figure having to go back to your empty apartment after spending so long talking to someone must have been kind of jarring.”

Sora’s steps faltered for half a second before picking up again. “You’re like… really smart, Riku. I don’t know why I didn’t figure that out myself.”

“You’re too close to it,” Riku said easily. “Our own emotions are always harder to pin down than just looking at someone else’s.”

Sora nodded, smiling for real this time. “Yeah, that’s definitely true. And since this is the first time I’ve ever lived by myself, I guess I didn’t notice this is what being lonely felt like.”

“You get used to it. Find ways to cope with it. Having friends to bother helps.”

“Yeah…” Sora turned a sunny smile on him. “Thanks for being there for me to bother, Riku.”

“I’m just glad I could help.”

They let the silence take over again, wandering the lamp lit streets of Twilight Town and enjoying the quiet that nighttime brought to the usually bustling city. 

It wasn’t until they wandered up to a park that their aimless wander acquired a destination, both of them automatically heading towards the playground without needing to so much as glance at each other. 

An uncharacteristic urge to fill the silence was filling Riku to burst, and before he knew what he wanted to say he was opening his mouth. 

“I actually grew up in this town, you know?” He said first, steps leading him towards the monkey bars. “These were always my favorite, but…” He reached up to grip one of the bars, easily staying flat on his feet with how tall he’d gotten. “Let’s just say it’s been a while since I’ve been back.”

Sora’s eyes sparkled, and he walked to the other end of the monkey bars. He was short enough that he had to stand on his toes to properly grip them, and a soon as he got his one good hand wrapped around the cool metal he hefted himself up and bent his legs underneath him, demonstrating that if he had the spare working arm to reach the next bar he’d easily be able to swing over to it.

“Okay, I didn’t think of that,” Riku laughed softly, lifting his own legs off the ground and keeping them bent so he could swing over to Sora’s end of the monkey bars with a light chuckle.

“Me and Seifer would try to race to see who could do the monkey bars faster. And to see who could swing the highest on the swings. And who could climb the rope ladder faster. Come to think of it, most of what we did when we played tougher was actually just try to one up each other. Makes me wonder if we ever actually liked each other, or just needed someone to piss off.”

“That’s cute, Riku.” Sora said, and before Riku could even register he’d just been called cute Sora was leading them to the swings next. “I can see you growing up like that. I bet you were real annoying as a kid.”

“Not as annoying as Seifer. Around middle school he turned out to be a huge douchebag, and we stopped being friends. But he was pretty much the only kid I can remember playing with growing up.”

Sora kicked up his swing into motion, and Riku followed suit. “So you didn’t have many friends when you were younger?”

Riku shook his head, glad to find that swing sets didn’t have an age when they stopped being fun as he leaned back and forth to gain momentum. “There was Seifer when I was little, and after him I met Yuna. She was my best friend throughout high school, and she was really cool. She ended up moving away when we graduated, though. The school I wanted to go to was here in town, but she got into somewhere way classier in Hollow Bastion, after she moved we kind of fell out of touch.”

Sora frowned again, shifting his body to swing even higher. “So… Do you think it’s inevitable? That we just stop talking to the people we love as soon as we’re too far away to actually meet?”

Riku thought for a second, before shaking his his head. “No… Not for everyone. I know for sure Yuna and I never had two hour phone conversations even when we WERE close. If you’re worried about your friend Kairi, just… I don’t know, Skype her or something? Set up a time every week when you talk to each other, and don’t let go just because you’re busy.”

Sora hummed thoughtfully, but he was smiling again. “You’re right. I should stop worrying so much. I’ve known Kairi all my life, there’s no way we’d stop being friends just because I had to move a few towns away.”

They continued swinging on the swings, and Riku was pretty sure he’d managed to successfully cheer Sora up. “Tell me about her,” Riku said suddenly, suddenly curious. “What’s Kairi like?”

Sora’s grin was radiant. “Kairi is the BEST. She’s so funny, and she’s not afraid to get dirty, but she’s still really pretty and sweet at the same time? She’s the person I did EVERYTHING with, and that’s saying a lot when I have a twin brother.”

Riku almost fell off his swing. “You have a twin brother?”

Sora laughed. “We’re not identical, but everyone always says we have the same face. I think they’re lying, though, because Roxas always looks like he’s scowling.” He paused. “Well. Probably because he IS usually frowning.”

Riku tried to imagine a version of Sora that was always scowling, and couldn’t quite picture it. “Do you not get along with him? I’ve never had any siblings, so I can’t really imagine having a twin.”

“We get along great! We just don’t hang out much. He had his friends and I had mine. I still call him all the time though. Can’t let him think just because I moved away he’s finally rid of me, can I?”

“No,” Riku laughed, “You certainly can’t.”

A few more swings and a little bit of silence, and Sora was launching himself off of the swing midair. Riku wanted to be worried about that, what with the broken arm and all, but by the time he even registered Sora was doing it the other boy had already landed on his feet, bouncing a little and turning back to look at Riku expectantly. 

Crap. Riku gave another good pump of his legs to psych himself up, then jumped off himself, landing a bit more clumsily than Sora had but still managing to stay on his feet.

Sora laughed. The sound, as Riku got used to hearing it, was light and playful, and more endearing than anyone he’d ever heard before. Riku liked Sora’s laugh, wanted to hear it as often as he could. Wanted to make Sora laugh.

What a weird feeling.

He shook it off, following Sora over to the jungle gym. Sora had his feet in the bottom rungs and was reaching up the higher ones to start climbing up, apparently determined to figure out how to haul himself to the top with his left arm still in a cast and unable to bear any weight.

“Hold on,” Riku said, taking only a few seconds to scale up to the top of the geometric metal contraption. He leaned down to offer a hand to Sora, who took it gratefully and let himself be pulled up to the top.

“My, Riku,” Sora said with a little laugh, a light blush visible on his cheeks. “What strong arms you have.”

“All the better to hold you with, my dear,” Riku said back automatically, before realizing what he’d just said and feeling his own cheeks stain in a hot blush.

He really could hold him, too. Not close, but like. Picking him up. Sora was strong enough to hold his body up with one hand on the monkey bars, but still small and light enough that Riku had just easily held up most of all of his body weight when he’d helped him up the jungle gym. He could probably lift him pretty easily, if given the chance.

Sora looked like he’d realized that too, because he was still looking at Riku’s arms out of the corner of his eyes, trying to look like he wasn’t. It made Riku self conscious, but also made him kind of want to show off, and he wished he had an excuse to see if his theory about how easy it would be to lift Sora would pan out.

This was… weird. Had they just been flirting? Had Riku just flirted back, or were they both joking? He didn’t even know. Did he WANT them to be flirting? He wasn’t sure of that, either.

The funny thing was, when he thought about it, Sora had a lot in common with Ventus. They were both short, had sunny attitudes, and even had eyes that looked like they could have been plucked out of the same head. But there was something… different about Sora. Where Riku had never considered Ven in a dating-sort-of-way even for a moment, here was Sora, totally messing with Riku’s equilibrium. They had things in common, sure, but in the end, they were so separate as people that Riku was having a hard time keeping his head straight around Sora whereas his other friend had always been totally off-limits.

It was weird, and confusing, and oddly… welcome. Riku didn’t hate the warm feeling in his chest that he was beginning to associate with Sora’s company. Didn’t hate how it felt so sit so close to him, looking at the stars. So close their hands could be touching, if Riku just had the courage to inch his fingers a little bit closer.

Sora made the decision for him, moving his hand to rest on top of Riku’s. Riku spread his fingers to lace them together with Sora’s, and they sat there under the night sky for a good long while.

Neither of them spoke.

—

“So you know what I just thought of?” Sora said when Riku answered the phone the next Wednesday night. 

“ _ You _ thought of something? That’s a first.”

“Haha,” Sora chided back. “But seriously. Why have I never been to your apartment? Are you hiding something from me?”

“Only a few dead bodies in the closet,” Riku said back, aware of how he was smiling from just being able to hear Sora’s voice. God he was getting pathetic. “But seriously, I don’t mind if we switch to my place tomorrow. I figure it’s probably my turn to make dinner anyway.”

“Ooh, I even get to try Riku’s cooking? This WILL be a treat,” Sora said with delight. “Text me the address and I’ll be there tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” Riku agreed, glancing around his apartment to decide how much time he needed to devote to cleaning between now and then.

But more importantly, he realized only after he got out from class the next afternoon, what the hell was he going to make for dinner. He only knew how to make a couple things, and he wasn’t very good at any of them, either, so what could he do easily and quickly that even Riku couldn’t screw up…

“Tacos?” Sora’s eyes brightened with glee when he heard the word fall from Riku’s lips. “I LOVE tacos! I don’t think I’ve had homemade tacos in FOREVER,” he crowed happily practically dancing into the apartment. “The Bistro didn’t exactly serve stuff like that, you know? So it wasn’t one of the recipes I picked up.”

“I take it now would be a good time to start dinner, then?” Riku chuckled, heading into the kitchen. “Make yourself comfortable, this shouldn’t take me long.”

Sora gave him a cheerful salute, turning to scan over Riku’s shelf full of books and DVDs.

Riku was mincing up the ground beef in the sizzling pan when Sora asked from the other room, “What’s up with all this boring French stuff? Are you like, secretly pretentious?”

Riku laughed. “No, I bought those when I was learning French.”

Sora perked up at that. “You speak French?”

“Not like, very well,” Riku said dismissively. “I started taking it in middle school and high school, but I didn’t like how they were trying to teach me so I went out and studied it myself. Online courses and watching French movies, things like that.”

“That’s amazing, Riku!” He said seriously. “I feel like I barely learned anything in high school, much less went out of my way to take up another whole language!”

Riku added the taco seasoning and a bit of water to the pan, stirring it up and turning the temperature down. From the living room half of his apartment, Sora asked, “What’s this? Meg Ryan? Is this a rom-com?”

Riku froze, a blush spreading over his face, looking into the pan as he heard footsteps approach. “Um. My mom liked that one. We watched it a lot when I was younger.” Licking his lips, he for some reason felt compelled to admit, “There’s, uh, a song in it we both really liked? The reason I picked French over the German or Spanish classes may have been partly because I wanted to learn that song.”

“You know how to  _ sing  _ in French, too?” Sora’s voice carried a distinctive note of awe, and he moved closer to Riku’s side to plea, “Could I maybe… hear you sing it?”

Riku’s spine stiffened with shyness, and he glanced at Sora through the corner of his eye. “I don’t… It’s been so long…”

Looking at Sora was a mistake. If he hadn’t, Riku wouldn’t have seen the hope shining on Sora’s innocent face as he asked again, “Not even a little? Just for me?”

Riku cleared his throat, keeping his eyes on the pan of beef that was honestly probably finished by now. “Um. Let’s see…  _ Ce souvenir, je te l'rends, des souvenirs tu sais, j'en ai tellement. Puisqu'on repart toujours à zéro… Pas la peine de s'charger trop… _ ”

He glanced over to Sora again, and stumbled over his own words when he saw the look on his face. His cheeks were beet red and eyes wide, biting his lower lip and looking at Riku with a simultaneously awed and somehow embarrassed expression as he sang.

“...Dinner’s ready,” Riku said instead of even attempting the next verse, feeling his own face burn with a blush and choosing to pretend that wasn’t the case. 

Sora nodded. “Y-yeah! I can’t wait! Thanks for cooking, Riku.”

They served themselves up and moved to the living room to eat, and Sora praised Riku’s cooking even though tacos were honestly pretty hard to screw up, and even then Riku’s still managed to be on the mediocre side.

Dinner was nice enough, and the mood shifted back to normal while they ate. 

Towards the end while Riku was starting to clean up, though, Sora got a text. Which wouldn’t be that unusual by itself, if it wasn’t for, you know, how he reacted to it.

“What the sweet fu-fudge?” Sora swore, frowning at his phone screen. “This can’t be - excuse me, Riku, I’ve gotta…” He trailed off vaguely, standing up and heading to the back of the kitchen as he started a phone call.

Unfortunately, the kitchen wasn’t far enough away for Riku not to be able to easily overhear the following conversation, even though he wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. He was pretty sure.

“Roxas, what the hell!” Sora started off; yelling, apparently, at his brother. “You can’t just text me news like that! ...Because you’ve never dated anyone ever, you don’t think this is a little surprising? And you don’t even tell me WHO you just say - Wait, tell me it’s not Axel? Fuck! Of course it is! ...I’m mad because you seemed like you barely wanted to tell me this at all, aren’t we supposed to tell each other everything? I told you when I had that crush on Leon, and I even told you about meeting Riku, but you can’t even mention once that you even like guys? Xion is Namine are why I assumed different you little -  _ I’ll pick up swearing if I wanna! _ ”

Riku managed to actually tune out the rat from that point, probably because his own mind was suddenly preoccupied.

So Sora definitely likes guys. That was good to know, especially since Riku was starting to get the sneaking suspicion… that he and Sora… might already be dating. The way Sora had just thrown Riku’s name in with the first guy he’d had a crush on was a little telling too, and Riku was not sure how to proceed with the information that he had a maybe-boyfriend.

He thought of all the time they’d been spending together lately, all the home cooked meals and late-night texts. All of it was starting to seem less and less platonic the more Riku’s reviewed it, but none of it was definitive. He didn’t wan’t to just assume something stupid and make an ass of himself… So what should he do from here..

In the meantime Sora was hanging up with a huff, stomping back into the living room and plopping down on the floor. Riku’s fingers itched to touch him. 

Instead he asked, “So… That was your brother?”

Sora nodded. “He has a boyfriend. And I don’t HATE his boyfriend, but…”

“But you don’t approve?”

Sora threw his hands up. “Because he could do so much better! Axel isn’t a bad person, but he’s like… and Roxas has so much potential, and I don’t want him dragging Roxas down with him!” He paused. “Oh my god, is that a horrible thing to say? Am I a bad person for thinking that?”

Riku laughed. “Of course not. You just want what’s best for your brother, and this Axel guy might or might not be it.”

Sora nodded, sighing. “I guess it’ll probably be okay. It kind of always has seemed like Axel’s been in love with him the whole time, so maybe his loyalty will like… overcome his lack of employment.”

Riku snorted. “Anything I can do to make you feel better in the meantime?”

Sora perked up instantly, a grin spreading across his face. “There is ONE thing I can think of…”

Fifteen minutes later saw them settling down on the couch, French Kiss starting up on Riku’s DVD player. By the end of the movie Sora was snuggled up into Riku’s side, and Riku decided that either Sora was a really tactile, intimate kind of person or they were definitely some kind of boyfriends. Both seemed equally likely.

—

“So I heard about this place,” Sora started on a phone call a few days later. “That’s supposed to have the best burgers in town. And I was thinking we definitely need to hit that up.”

“Sure,” Riku shrugged. “Where did you hear about?”

“This diner called The Oasis? Have you heard about it?”

“Oh, is that all? Their breakfasts are good, but I know a place with WAY better burgers. I’ll take you there, instead.”

“Ooh, look at Riku, taking charge and making plans~” Sora teased. “But I trust you know what you’re talking about. Should we go Thursday?”

“I um. Forgot to tell you, I actually picked up a shift Thursday night. We can go Saturday though?”

“Riku, how could you! Making plans on our date night and then forgetting to tell me, you’re awful.”

“I’m a real villain,” Riku apologized, feeling himself smile. Date night, he’d said. That meant they were dating, right? “I’ll pick you up on Saturday?”

“Yeah,” Sora said. “See you then, Riku.”

Riku hung up feeling more confident than ever. Okay. Saturday night. He had a date, he was pretty sure, with his boyfriend. Now all he had to do was confirm it… Somehow.

So he picked up Sora on Saturday night, early enough that they’d still be able to get a seat in Seventh Heaven. Sora raised an eyebrow when they parked, asking “A bar? Am I even allowed in here?”

“They serve food too, so they only card you if you actually order a drink. Just stick to soda and now one will even glance at you.”

Sora shrugged. “You’ve lived here longer than me, so I guess I’ll have to trust you about their food.”

“Glad to know I’ve at least earned your faith.” Riku smiled, resting his hand on the small of Sora’s back under the excuse of leading him inside. “But to be honest, I know the owner of this place. So I might be a little biased about her food.”

“Oh yeah? How well do you know her?”

“Let’s just say she used to babysit me.”

Sora laughed, and someone directed them to an open table where they seated themselves.

The waitress took their drink orders, and they had just enough time to not quite start a conversation by the time Tifa herself noticed his presence and made her way over.

“Riku!” She greeted, patting his shoulder as she arrived at their table. “I haven't seen you in ages, why haven’t you been coming around anymore?”

“He’s too busy with work,” Sora answered for him grinning up at Tifa. “Or too busy with homework.”

“Not too busy to make time for you I see,” she said with a smile. “I’m Tifa, the owner of this fine establishment.”

“I’m Sora,” Sora said cheerfully. “And Riku promised me you had the best burgers in town.”

“Well isn’t he a sweetheart for saying so,” Tifa laughed. Then, almost idly, she threw out a bombshell. “So how long have you two been together?”

Riku and Sora both froze, looking at each other. Sora gaped, “Uh… maybe since….”

While at the same time Riku stuttered out an awkward, “Er, you see the thing about that is…”

Tifa laughed. “Whoops, sorry. Didn’t realize there was a landline under my feet.” She patted Riku’s shoulder again. “Well, I’ve gotta get back to it. Call me if you need anything at all, Riku.”

She left them alone, where Sora and Riku had a moment to stare at each other, red-faced. 

“We, uh… Never actually talked about this, huh?” Sora laughed, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah… I’m not great at like. Talking about my feelings, so. I’ve kind of been avoiding the subject, but…”

Sora bit his lip. “We ARE dating, right?”

Riku nodded quickly. “Y-yeah! At least, I know I wanted to.”

“Oh good,” Sora sighed in relief, “Me too.”

There was another moment of silence, but this one was significantly less weird and strained. Riku cleared his throat. “But for the record…”

“Yeah?”

“Can this be our first date instead of the time I hit you with my car?”

Sora laughed. “Yeah. Today is good, Riku.”

And it was true. Today WAS good.

—

Riku still had one thing left to do now that Sora was officially his boyfriend. That was, introduce him to his goddamned loser friends. All he had to do was hope it wasn’t a total disaster.

Everyone was gathered at Aqua’s place this time, since she still lived with her wealthy parents and therefore had the biggest house to gather everyone up in. 

Riku got there last, Sora at his side with a homemade quiche because ‘It’s rude not to show up with food, Riku.’

When Aqua opened the door, the first thing she did was instantly coo about how cute Sora was. Then about how cute it was that he’d brought a quiche. Before she could find anything else to find adorable, Riku barged past her to get the quiche inside, Sora politely following.

“So he’s real after all,” Ventus smirked when he met Sora, shaking his hand. “Cast on his arm and everything.” 

“Is it true Riku hit you with his car?” Terra had to ask, even though he could see the cast with his own eyes.

“Sure, just look.” Sora offered up his cast, where Riku’s signature still read, “ _ Sorry for breaking your arm, _ ” in plain sight. 

Upon seeing that, Terra and Ventus couldn't contain their laughter. It was no less than Riku had expected anyway. 

They settled in, asking Sora the usual questions about himself over Aqua’s famous stuffed mushrooms. Sora answered cheerfully, returning each of the questions in kind, slowly finding out about and bonding with Riku’s closest friends. 

Eventually everyone started stretching and getting up, the night wearing on enough that everyone had to leave. Riku and Sora were were putting on their jackets when Aqua stopped them, pulling Sora aside to talk to him personally.

“I just wanted to thank you, Sora.” She started, smiling down at him. “You probably don’t realize it, but Riku really is a much different person now than before he met you.”

“Yeah,” Ventus butted in, “He’s a lot less uptight now.”

Terra, almost from nowhere, agreed. “I don’t remember the last time he smiled as much as he has tonight. You're proving to be a good influence on our little ice queen.”

“Are you guys almost done?” Riku asked, red faced and standing by the door. “Or do you have more making fun of me left in you?”

“We can always make fun of you, Riku,” It was Sora’s traitorous butt who said that one, grinning at Riku. He turned back to Riku’s friends. “And I just wanted to say, I’m glad I met you guys. Riku’s really lucky to have friends who care about him so much.”

Terra ruffled a hand through Sora’s hair, and Ventus laughed.

“You’re our friend now, too Sora,” Ven said. “So don’t expect any of us to go easier only you than we do him.”

Sora’s eyes sparked, and his grin was infectious. “I look forward to it!”

—

Sora, it turned out, insisted upon being a  _ very _ good influence on Riku. He convinced him to eat better, to sleep better, and most importantly of all, to quit his shitty night job in favor of pursuing a less stressful line of work. 

Riku wasn’t sure he should try to be looking for a new job at all at first, he was a shift leader and that did come with a slight pay raise compared to where he’d started out. But Sora was insistent that if he just tried out something new he’d be capable of more than he thought he was, and so Riku reduced his hours to start working as a French tutor and online translator. The money wasn’t as good, but he felt good doing it, and later on when they moved in together their combined income meant Riku was able to quit his job all together.

He still had like, seven years of medical school to get through before he could do his dream job, but until then, the work he picked up was satisfying enough. And seven years? Seven years was nothing.

As long as Sora was by his side, Riku felt like he could do anything. 

—


End file.
